Aug. 22—BROCK — The water supplier for Brock ISD and communities in parts of Parker and Palo Pinto counties got a green light for expansion plans from Austin on Thursday.

A $13 million low interest loan approved by the Texas Water Development Board allows the Parker County Special Utility District to build a water tower on the Brock campus plus lay miles of transmission and distribution lines.

The plan is designed to end a four-year-old moratorium on new water meters, in a region experiencing a housing boom. Dakota Tawater, the water district's general manager, said the waiting line for new service is close to 500.

"The release of the moratorium is going to be crucial to the loan payment," he said, citing the low-interest state loan OK'd in Austin. "The moratorium will be lifted in phases."

The loan, a relatively small amount in the water world, is enough to complete the project, Tawater said.

"It's going to get that tower built," he said, adding the amount also should cover the pipelines. "It basically will be able to serve the heart of our system."

It also will boost water pressure at the school, a major fire safety feature.

Parker County SUD serves residents and businesses in the Brock, Dennis and Greenwood communities as well as an area near Millsap and Bennett.

According to the district's website, 6,430 live within its boundaries. The not-for-profit corporation formed in 1974.

Brock ISD spokesman John Tarrant reported last week the 3A district has grown by 800 students in the past seven years to 2,130. There are another 285 teachers and support staff.

The big question, however, is whether the district will paint its eagle logo on the water tower.

"We have some ideas," Tarrant said without elaborating. He also praised a historic "great relationship" between the school district and the local water provider.

Tawater is among 31-member planning committee which produced a $64.4 million bond referendum Brock ISD voters will decide on Nov. 8.

Thursday's action dovetails with another state-funded project at the water district, its desalination plant expansion. That $12 million ongoing project , also on a low-interest loan from the water board, is projected to double output at the salt-removal plant on the Brazos River west of Dennis to two million gallons a day.

"We're going to be making more water in the next few months," Tawater said. "And we're going to be making even more water this time next year."

The water tower, on a hill near Brock High School, and the new distribution lines will take a little longer to come online.

"It's going to take probably two years from when we start, because towers take a while to get built," he said. "We still have a little bit of work ahead of us."

That includes closing on the loan agreement, seeking and evaluating bids and choosing contractors.

"We've struggled through three years of supply chain issues and the cost of manufacturing and what the economy's doing," Tawater said, speaking from a membrane conference in San Antonio which wasn't as much fun as it sounds. "It's not at all."